Sing us a Song, Sasuke
by Jasper and Onyx
Summary: A songfic to Billy Joel's epic song Piano Man. Sasuke gets drunk and sings in a bar. Sasuke-centric.


Song: _Piano Man_ by Billy Joel 

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_**Its nine o'clock on a Saturday, regular crowd shuffles in. **_

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The bar in Konoha opened at exactly nine. Within a matter of minutes, the regulars started appearing, a weary Hatake Kakashi being one of the first. Shinobi life was hard, and even the toughest ninja needed to escape sometimes.

He lazily waved at the bartender. "The usual please, Satoshi-san."

The man placed a bottle of sake on the bar, along with a cup. Kakashi settled in to get stoned.

A while after he downed his first bottle, one of his former students, a Uchiha Sasuke, entered. He was unsurprised to see Kakashi there. In fact, these meetings were also a regular fixture at the bar.

After Sasuke had returned to the village, deeply upset about whatever had transpired between his brother and him; he had been found passed out in one of the back alleys by Kakashi.

Worried about his ex-student's health, Kakashi introduced him to Satoshi's bar, where there was always at least one sober waitress to make sure he got home safely.

The raven haired twenty year old slid onto the stool next to the silver haired man, who raised a cup of sake in greeting.

**.**

_**There's an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin.**_

.

Sasuke watched Kakashi down the cup he had raised in greeting. He was about to order his own, when suddenly the older ninja spoke.

"Hey, Sasuke? Do you remember that song? The one that Yukie taught you and Sakura while Naruto was in the hospital?"

Sasuke frowned. "Yeah. Why?"

"Could you sing it? I don't really remember the words." He chuckled. "I guess I'm getting old."

.

_**He says "Son, can you play me a melody? I'm not really sure how it goes, but it's sad, and it's sweet, and I knew it complete, when I wore a younger man's clothes.**_

.

Sasuke scowled. "Maybe later," he muttered. When I'm too drunk to care, he thought.

**.**

_**La lala didida, lala didida, da dum, Sing us a song, you're the piano man, sing us a song tonight! 'Cause we're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feelin' all right.**_

.

Satoshi placed a bottle of sake and a cup out for the Uchiha, and smiled. "Liquid Courage," he said, indicating the bottle. "This one's on the house." He turned back to washing cups behind the bar.

"Thanks, " the black haired shinobi said, pouring himself a cup.

**.**

_**Now John at the bar is a friend of min; he gets me my drinks for free. And he's quick with a joke, or a light of your smoke, but there's someplace that he'd rather be.**_

.

"You know, sometimes I envy you ninjas," the bartender said, still facing away. "You get to visit all these exotic places, and meet all theses famous people, and if you're good enough, people everywhere hear about you. I've never even been out of Konoha."

**.**

_**He says "Bill, I believe this is killing me," as the smile ran away from his face. "Well, I'm sure that I could be a movie star, if I could get out of this place."**_

.

Sasuke scowled again. "It's not that great."

"No job's perfect, kid," the bartender replied.

.

_**Oh, la lala didida, lala didida da dum**_

.

The bell on the door jingled, and three more familiar faces entered. One looked to be Kakashi's age, with light brown hair, and was chewing on a senbon.

The middle one was Senju Tsunade, the retired Godaime Hokage, whose strength was only rivaled by her drinking and gambling debts.

The final one was Nara Shikamaru, hastily stamping out a cigarette under his boot.

Genma and Tsunade nodded to Kakashi and Sasuke, before sitting and continuing their discussion about the upcoming chunin exams.

Shikamaru, however, pretended he didn't recognize anyone, and hurried to sit alone in the back. Even though he was there nearly as often as Kakashi and Sasuke, he had never spoken to either of them, or any of the staff. He came here to drink to Asuma's memory, not to socialize.

One of the waitresses brought him his sake, and went to join the discussion about the chunin exams.

.

_**Now Paul is a real estate novelist, who never had time for a wife, and he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the navy, and probably will be for life. And the waitress is practicing politics, as the business man slowly gets stoned. Yes, they're sharing a drink they call "Loneliness" but it's better than drinking alone.**_

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Sasuke was on his second bottle now, reasoning capabilities being shut down one by one. Kakashi was even worse off.

"Sasukay, yur gonna sing da song, right? God, I luv that song."

"Shurr, why not?" The Uchiha rose unsteadily to his feet. One of the other customers nudged his companion, and winked.

.

_**Sing us a song, you're the piano man, sing us a song tonight. Well, we're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feeling all right.**_

.

Sasuke made his way over to the old piano and microphone, left over from when the bar had still employed live entertainment.

Satoshi smiled as more people came into his bar and ordered drinks. He knew most of them were only there to hear the Uchiha sing. Maybe he could get him to do so more often…

.

_**It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday, and the manager gives me a smile, 'cause he knows that it's me they've been commin' to see, and forget about life for awhile.**_

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Sasuke let his fingers go up a scale, wincing at the out of tune piano. The microphone had the unmistakable scent of alcohol. Apparently the piano player had been paid in more than just money.

He played the opening to the song. An expectant hush fell over the crowd. Then he began to sing.

His voice wasn't heavenly. In fact, it was decidedly average, proof that not even an Uchiha could be perfect at everything. But the raw emotion that spilled out from behind his ice prince façade wowed his audience in its own right. He didn't notice two certain people enter the bar, one blond headed, the other pink haired, until he heard the familiar shout of "Hey! Teme!" over the applause at the end.

Bleary eyed from unshed tears, he focused on a pair of unnaturally bright blue eyes. He scowled for the third time that evening, this time for being caught in such an embarrassing position.

"Dobe, why're you heeere?" His speech, unlike his singing, was slurred.

Naruto just shook his head at his best friend. Sakura was over at the bar paying for Sasuke's unfinished drink.

"I think you've had enough for tonight, Sasuke," she called over the noise of the bar. "You're going to destroy your liver. Come on, Naruto and I will take you home."

**.**

_**And the piano, it sounds like a carnival, and the microphone smells like a beer. And they sit at the bar, and put bread in my jar, and say "Man, what are you doing here?"**_

.

"Man, the mighty Uchiha certainly has fallen far," Naruto remarked as he supported Sasuke. "Getting drunk, singing in a bar, and now being carried home by his only friends."

"Most people would consider that a night well spent," Sasuke snapped.

"So? You aren't most people, are you? You remind people of that on a routine basis."

"Shut up dobe."

"Make me, teme. Oh, I forgot, you're drunk off your ass again!"

"Shut the hell up both of you!" Sakura yelled, sick of the fighting. The ex-team seven fell into an uncomfortable silence the rest of the way to Sasuke's apartment. By that point, the Uchiha had passed out. Naruto and Sakura levered him into bed, and then left.

On the way back to their home, Sakura noticed that Naruto was shaking.

"Calm down," she said, placing a hand on his arm. He sighted.

"I know, Sakura, but it's just, he's my best friend. I'm supposed to help him with his problems. He won't speak about what went on with Itachi, so I'm useless!"

"I know, Naruto, but this is all we can do right now. We can't make him tell us what went on, so we'll have to wait for him to come to terms with it on his own."

"You're right," the Rokudaime sighed. "Let's just go home.

Later that night, Sasuke woke, and ran to the toilet to throw up. He always hated the aftereffects of alcohol, but it was a small price to pay for the relief of being drunk. He looked at himself in the mirror, only to have his face morph into his brother's the last time he had seen it. He started crying.

"I'm so sorry, Nii-san."

_**.**_

_**Sing us a song, you're the piano man, sing us a song tonight. 'Cause we're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feelin' all right.**_


End file.
